1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to golf cart accessories, more specifically, the present invention relates to portable golf cart covers which are small and lightweight enough for a golfer to carry in a golf club bag, or attached to a golf club bag, and which fit a plurality of golf cart models of differing manufacture, size and shape.
2. Background
Golf has become a year-round sport which is played in numerous countries throughout the world. Because of the popularity of the sport, the length of time required to play, and other factors it is often necessary to reserve course time at least several days in advance. Moreover, as in any sport, the players generally prefer to set aside a particular time during the week, or even during the month, for the activity. Thus, it is often the case that golfers will play in less than ideal weather conditions rather than reschedule their game.
As shown in FIG. 1, conventional powered golf carts C are typically open-sided vehicles having a body and a hard-top roof supported by four support posts mounted to the body. The open sides make it easy for people to get in and out of the cart. The open-sided carts, however, do not provide much protection for occupants against wind, rain, cold, insects, or other adverse conditions. During inclement weather, the roof of a golf cart may provide some protective cover for golfers seated in the cabin section. On a rainy day, however, it is also preferable to use a golf cart cover to shield the cabin section from rain blowing through the open sides, front and/or back of the cart. Various types of portable golf cart covers are commercially available. These covers are typically comprised of several panels of a water-repellant material such as canvas or tarpaulin. A window, made of a transparent plastic material, is typically provided in at least the front panel for purposes of visibility. The panels may be joined to one another and to the windows by sewing or with heavy-duty zippers. These covers are usually attached to the cart by means of hooks and/or clips. Access into and out of the cart is afforded by an opening in at least one of the side walls. Typically, the opening is held closed by means of a heavy-duty zipper or snaps.
Although most of these golf cart covers provide adequate protection from the rain, they have numerous drawbacks. For example, canvas and tarpaulin are relatively heavyweight materials, having a thickness on the order of at least 12 mils, which prohibits folding a cover constructed of this material to a size which is compact and easy to transport and store, and is difficult especially for the golfer to conveniently store in a golf bag. Moreover, folding the cover up and onto the roof when not in use tends to give an unsightly appearance. Because the material is heavyweight, panels must be joined by sewing them together or by sewing in zippers, all of which leads to high manufacturing costs. The stitching may eventually weaken and tear, and zippers often corrode, stick or even break. In addition to being bulky, a canvas or tarpaulin cover weighs an average of 12-15 pounds and can be quite costly to purchase. Canvas or tarpaulin also has a tendency to become discolored from soiling and moldy if not allowed to dry completely before folding. Another drawback of canvas covers is that they typically are comprised of plastic windows which yellow, harden and crack when exposed to ultraviolet radiation from sunlight, again making these covers difficult to fold and unreliable as rain protection, as the plastic windows of the cover may crack and become disassociated from the cover altogether. The canvas covers of the prior art are not portable due mainly to their size, weight and stiffness; do not fit within the pockets of a golf bag; and do not reasonably enable a golfer to provide his own rain protection for a rented cart by carrying his or her own cart cover.
Others have previously attempted to overcome one or more of these drawbacks. U.S. Pat. No. 4,098,536 to Mills, for example, discloses a weathershield for golf carts which, when not in use, may be folded and packed into a pouch for storage. The shield may be constructed of a transparent plastic material. However, the use of a heavy-duty zipper in at least one side wall necessitates the use of a relatively heavyweight material. The shield must be secured at intervals around the outside body of the cart by clamps, hooks, and/or snaps.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,013,315 to West discloses a rain curtain assembly for a golf cart comprised of a plurality of panels which are compressible into a small package when not in use. However, assembly of the curtain tends to be somewhat complex, requiring tie cords for securing the panels and suction cups and hook means to attach the curtain to the golf cart. Moreover, cloth binding must be sewn onto the panels to provide strength and shape.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,709,553 to Churchill discloses a golf cart rain cover that includes a pair of plastic curtains supported at the top by a guide member which is attached to each side of the roof of the golf cart. Each curtain of this prior art device is designed to be compressible into a bundle at one side of the cart when not in use. Such prior art curtain arrangements have been accompanied by various disadvantages, including the necessity for a permanent mounting installation on the cart and the presence of a bulky mass of material at the side of the carts when the curtains are not in use.
Golf cart enclosures today are generally one of two types. One type is installed semi-permanently and remains in place throughout the cold weather season. The second type is portable and loosely shaped to fit most cart manufacturers. The portable enclosures tend to be either over-the-roof models with four sides or under-the-roof models with three sides.
Most portable patented golf cart enclosure products in the market today are four sided and slip over the entire golf cart frame. This process typically requires two people to install and remove for storage and becomes more difficult in high wind conditions. A second patented design has three sides and attaches under the cart roof using straps or rails. This design requires significant installation time and effort to make the necessary connections and is not intended to be portable. A third patented design attaches to the roof front support bars and rear roof support bars and is easily removable after a installing a semi-permanent fitting on the front roof support bars.
Most enclosures use zippered openings that typically have a closed end at the top to ensure the zippers can be reliably opened and closed. This closed end results in a very small opening for ingress and egress which presents difficulty to the golfer entering or exiting the cart. The zippers must accommodate different degrees of tension to accommodate the different sizes and shapes of golf cart models, which affects in zipper performance during closing and opening. Golf cart enclosure zippers are inherently unreliable and generally fail over time due to corrosion, normal wear resulting from use, and other factors. Because zippers are mechanical, they are prone to break, snag and tear. Most portable enclosures when installed can stretch a door side, which adds tension on the zippers and contributes to door zipper failure. The zipper teeth can get out of alignment and fail. Zippers also tend to separate from material over time, due to shrinking, caused by tension, the rotting of stitching and weather factors including ultraviolet degradation of materials. In short, there is a high probability that zippers will jam or fail over time.
Golf carts are typically owned by either the player or by the course operator, who may be, for example, a golf club or a golf course owner. The vast majority of carts in use are owned by the course operator and are rented to players who present for play at the golf course. This means that the vast majority of golf carts in use are rented by players and not owned by players. This situation presents uncertainty to the player, as he or she is generally at the mercy of the golf course operator to provide rain protection for the golf cart because the golf cart covers of the prior art are not enabled to fit inside a golf bag; they are designed to stay with the cart. It is a feature of the current invention, as described further herein, that the invention, by its small size, light weight, quick and simple means for attachment, and other features enables the player to provide his own protection from the elements independent of the golf course operator, golf club or golf course owner by enabling the player to carry his own cart cover conveniently in his golf bag, or attached to the outside of his golf bag, and therefore remove any uncertainty as to whether the player will have protection from the elements while on the course. The cart cover of the present invention therefore is a significant improvement in the art.
Most golf cart enclosures today made from heavyweight material are sold in a large, “portable” storage bag. The functional portability of such products is highly questionable as these storage bags can quite often be large, cumbersome, and heavy thereby limiting their true portability. For instance, a typical canvas cover can, when packaged, be of a size and volume that it is impossible to fit inside a golf club bag, or hang on a golf club bag. Such golf cart covers are intended to be kept with the cart, for instance, placed within a wire basket on the back of the cart, as opposed to being kept by the golfer. This means that, when it comes to rain protection, the golfer must rely upon his good fortune when renting a cart for play: if the rented cart owner, such as the golf club or golf course owner, has provided a cart cover with the cart, the golfer may in fact have some protection from the elements. However, if the cart owner has not provided a cart cover with the cart, the golfer is left with no rain protection except the roof of the cart itself, which is virtually no protection from the elements. And, in any event, the cart covers of the prior art are so heavy, large and cumbersome that, even if provided, may not be deployed in time to protect from the elements. Furthermore, such prior art golf cart covers are comprised of storage bags that often make it difficult to re-fold the enclosure to place it back into its storage bag. As a result, most cart owners may first dispense with using the storage bag and then the enclosure altogether.
A much more desirable approach for rain and inclement weather protection is for the golfer himself to carry a lightweight, portable, easily deployable, cart cover that is small enough to fit in the typical golf club bag and is easily deployable by a single person. In this manner the golfer can be assured that, independent of the cart owner's actions regarding rain protection, the golfer will have adequate rain protection when he needs it.
The types of golf cart covers as described in the prior art are adequate in some respects but in other ways exhibit various significant disadvantages which lead to the result that few, if any, golfing establishments have provided these curtains and covers on their golf carts. Obviously the cart covers are an additional expense which many clubs do not wish to incur. Therefore, when a golfer is playing on a course which does not provide golf carts equipped for inclement weather, that person is subject to being uncomfortable or to an interruption of the game. While a golfer's home course may possibly provide weather-proof carts, it is quite likely that in today's mobile society that same golfer will travel on vacation or for business reasons and play on many courses that do not have such carts. In these situations, it is desirable that the golfer be enabled to provide his own protection from the elements independent of the golf cart owner.
Another problem encountered by conventional cart covers is that golf carts are available in many different models and are manufactured by a variety of companies. Golf carts therefore are not of uniform shape or size. As a result, specific cart covers are designed and sized to fit over specific golf cart models, thereby necessitating cover manufacturers, wholesalers, or retailers to stock multiple different models and sizes of golf cart covers.
Accordingly therefore there is a need for a, lightweight, universal, affordable golf cart cover that, when removed from the cart is packaged in such a way as to fit inside or to hang on the outside of a golf bag; which is suitable for mass production and tailored for use with a majority of golf carts of the same class (e.g., single seat, two-person golf cart); and which can easily be installed by a single person.